A Tennessee school board has voted unanimously to remove a Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel about Holocaust survivors from its eighth-grade curriculum, citing a drawing of a nude woman, eight swear words and its 'not wise or healthy' content.
The McMinn County Board of Education voted 10-0 to remove 'Maus' by Art Spiegelman from the curriculum on January 10, despite educators arguing that the graphic novel is an 'anchor text' in eighth-grade English language arts instruction and the centerpiece of a months-long study of the Holocaust.
Published in 1991, Maus is inspired by the story of Spiegelman's parents, Vladek and Anja, who survived the Holocaust after being shipped to the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland. The graphic novel depicts Nazis as cats and Jewish people as mice.
The board heard from instructional supervisors and other school officials who defended the use of the book in class but were unanimously overruled.
'I went to school here 13 years. I learned math, English, reading and history. I never had a book with a naked picture in it, never had one with foul language. ... So, this idea that we have to have this kind of material in the class in order to teach history, I don't buy it,' said board member Mike Cochran.
Spiegelman, 73, called the ban 'Orwellian' in an interview with CNBC, saying that he learned about it on Wednesday, a day before Holocaust Remembrance Day.
The Holocaust Museum has defended the book and said it plays a 'vital role' in teaching about the World War II-era genocide.
The McMinn County school board in Tennessee voted 10-0 to remove 'Maus' by Art Spiegelman from the eighth grade curriculum over eight swear words and nudity
The graphic novel by Art Spiegelman (above) is inspired by the story of Art's parents
Art's father, Vladek Spiegelman (above), survived the Auschwitz concentration camp
The Holocaust Museum has defended Maus as playing a 'vital role' in educating children about the genocide. Their tweet came on Wednesday, the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day
The McMinn Board of Education declined to comment on the ban or how long the book has been taught at its schools, routing DailyMail.com to the board members who banned it.
Board members' objections revolved around a drawing of a nude woman and eight swear words that appear throughout the 296-page book, according to minutes from the meeting.
Lee Parkison, the board's director of schools, said he tried to find a workaround to the profanity.
'I consulted with our attorney, Mr. Scott Bennett. After consulting with him, we decided the best way to fix or handle the language in this book was to redact it. Considering copyright, we decided to redact it to get rid of the eight curse words and the picture of the woman that was objected to,' Parkinson said.
But Bennett told him there were copyright issues associated with censoring swear words from an artistic work.
Board member Tony Allman said the book was unacceptable with or without the redacted portions.
'Being in the schools, educators and stuff, we don't need to enable or somewhat promote this stuff. It shows people hanging, it shows them killing kids.
